Bankloch

With interest rates close to 0, people are forced to invest their money to avoid losing buying power (as inflation is considerably higher than the typical interest rate on a saving account or term deposit).  As many people do not want to actively follow-up their investment portfolio, most bank customers invest in actively-managed investment funds (often the funds managed by the asset management department of the same bank). Although those funds are usually a good investment decision, there is very little transparency on the investment decisions and the fee structure of those funds. Even though regulators force fund managers to offer KID/KIID documents to their investors and introduce all kinds of requirements to demonstrate the associated risk (like the FSMA risk label in Belgium), these documents and figures remain very difficult to understand for the common retail investor. The main fee paid for a fund is the   management fee , which typically varies between 0,1% and 2% of t...

Having a true "blue" (introvert and analytical) personality type, I often feel envy towards charismatic (often extravert) entrepreneurs and more specifically the ease with which they can setup new businesses and coordinate different activities. At the same time, it amazes me how many of those successful entrepreneurs have poor skills in   financial management   and have no clue how to build even a basic business plan. Maybe this is also the reason of their success, as they manage mainly from their gut-feeling and act before analyzing everything. Obviously this tactic has its limits, as when attracting investors or when scaling, some kind of business plan will be required as a common guideline to work towards. Having worked years as a consultant and working now as an Innovation and Product manager, I can honestly say I have seen my fair share of (financial) business plans. Obviously you can make a financial business plan as simple or as complex as you want. However given that ...